MMM

3M’s beta is 1.1, making the stock 10% more volatile than the market. The company’s stock price is up 108.6% over the last five year span. S&P 500 is up 106.9% for the same period, while XLI, an industrials ETF, has risen 123.3%. 3M’s earnings are positively correlated to the US GDP by a factor of 0.88. Current forecasts for the US GDP growth are between 2-3% through 2016. Growth in GDP, even at a moderate pace, would translate to higher earnings for the company, as corporate profits rise with companies restocking their inventories with products manufactured by /1c6ESLu#